After extensive development, it seems that Below will finally be ready to debut this year on Xbox One and PC. Now, the director Kris Pitriowski talked about the duration of the game, the experience that players can expect and the ability to see a physical version and launch the title on other platforms.
According to the director, completing Below for the first time can take 20 hours, although once the players memorize the areas they will surely finish the game faster in a second round. “The first playthrough of Below will be quite long when you include all the times that you’ve died and failed, but then you unlock cool shortcuts and little ways to travel through the world,” he said in an interview with God is a Geek. “Through that, you optimize your playthroughs, but it’s a big game with a lot of depth in the encounters and the world itself goes down pretty deep.”
Pitriowski reminded fans that Below is a single player experience, so you should forget about any multiplayer feature. The game will include some battles with bosses, but the main objective will be exploration and combat in a roguelike world, however, there is a feature that continues in secret. “There is one aspect of the game that we haven’t shown off, unfortunately, I can’t talk about it until after launch,” he continued. “What I can say is that there is an ominous presence in the game that stalks the world a little bit.”
From the beginning, Below was planned to debut digitally on Xbox One and Steam. According to Pitriowski, the plan remains the same, but there is a possibility that there will be some changes in the future. “I’d love to release a game that comes in a little box. We’ve been talking to some distributors about doing some special editions, but that’s just something we’ve been thinking about, none of that’s been finalised,” he added.
On launching the game on other platforms, the director said that the only goal they have at this time is to take it to Xbox and Steam and that “beyond that, I can’t say, right now.” While there is no important announcement at the moment, it seems there are possibilities to see Below on another console like PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch.
Below was originally presented in 2013 by Capybara Games. This title of action and adventure with roguelike characteristics got delayed several times. Now, 5 years later, it seems that the game will be ready to debut. Piotrowski said in March that Below would arrive in 2018 on Xbox One and Steam, although he did not give a precise release date. He noted that, unlike other occasions, the development team was putting the final touches.
